Weapons, warfare and industrial idiocy

The Wisdom of Professor Seagull

"It is the duty of the bohemian to make a spectacle of himself. If my informality leads you to believe that I am a rum-dumb or that I belong in Bellevue, then hold fast to that belief; hold fast, and show your ignorance."

Joseph Ferdinand Gould (1889-1957)

Cold War Reenactors

"We rely upon the good will of our fellow man - and the forbearance of reptiles."

"WOW" (Wisdom of Wally)...

"A Copse. Evening"

"I don't make hell for nobody. I'm only the instrument of a laughing providence. Sometimes I don't like it myself, but I couldn't help it if I was born smart."

1st Sgt. Milton Anthony Warden."From here to Eternity"

Paul Valery

"You are in love with intelligence, until it frightens you. For your ideas are terrifying and your hearts are faint. Your acts of pity and cruelty are absurd, committed with no calm, as if they were irresistible. Finally, you fear blood more and more. Blood and time."

The Wisdom of the Ages

"When a young man, I read somewhere the following: God the Almighty said, 'All that is too complex is unnecessary, and it is simple that is needed',"

Monday, October 26, 2009

More Theater Knives

Just a couple of cool theater knives starting with the oldest.This one is First War and early at that being dated 1914.It's got a really nice blade, nice enough that I think it probably came from an earlier dagger.The handle is aluminum and copper.I don't know if the tang is sandwiched between two slabs of aluminum or is the handle is cast in place.It's got two copper inlays; one reads 1914, the other, Rozelieures.Coolest is the hilt, a copper driving band from an artillery shell.Apparently a spent shell as I assume the grooves are from the rifling.

This next one is just so down-home you could hug it.This is a fighting knife made by a member of Britain's Home Guard during the Second War.It looks to me as if it's been made from a wood chisel - a thin paring chisel.The handle would be functional for a chisel but it doesn't look like a commercial handle - but it doesn't look much like a handle for a knife.My theory is that this was a chisel, old enough to have needed a shop-made, replacement handle in its lifetime.It was then converted into a dagger by adding a guard - a piece of tin with a hole in it - and cutting the sides of the chisel down.It would have been a long slow grind if this was all done without annealing it.

This next speaks for itself.Another WW2This is one loud piece of work.It's made from the last 14" or so of a sword.A very nice sword I would guess.I'm thinking, that's probably not plexiglas in the handle.Nice sheath although it seems a bit crude for the knife.It's got some very macho stitching and rivets to set off the hilt and the crowning bit, a collection of Bad Guy cap devices.Very cool.